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Embroidery without needle - Thread Garden

Last week we had been to Ooty for a short vacation trip.Ooty is known as the Queen of hill stations and is about 267 km from Bangalore.While on a sight seeing tour, the cab driver told us that he'll take us to Thread Garden. As soon as I heard the word "Thread", my interest in seeing everything else vanished :)

When we reached the location, I found a not so well kept building and I wondered - what could be so interesting in this place? The guide there told us that what we're about to see is the work spanning about 12 years by about 50 trained artists using a method known as Hand winding. This technique uses embroidery threads to create plants and flowers but does not use needle or any kind of machinery.

While the thread garden does not in anyway match the real garden,we were humbled by the efforts of those umpteen artists who worked so hard to create these true to life plants and flowers. Apparently 400 different shades of threads have been used to create this garden. Let me take you on a tour of the Thread Garden. I've left the pictures big enough for you to see them well and read the descriptions.

Click on the pics to see them better. Unlike the real plants that can be cleaned with water,these need to be well protected from dust,which unfortunately does not seem to be happening.

My first reaction on seeing these flowers,was -"stump work!!, what's the big deal?" Then it dawned on me that stump work needs a base fabric and hence we cannot put them into that category.

Entirely made with thread,but no needle used.

That's the description below the lady with the drum

A description of the technique used in making the leaves and flowers.60 million meters of thread have been used to create the entire garden!!

Thank you for posting these photos and the link. I have been following your blog for a while but never posted. Going to post a link to your blog on mine, if you do not mine. If you do, let me know and I will take it down. Hope to read more from you soon.